Windows Phone services are being launched in a load more countries this week, with the Windows Phone Marketplace now rolling out in (deep breath) Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Israel, Thailand, and Vietnam. Each of the affected countries can now customize the Windows Phone Marketplace storefront and can now include Widows Phone apps. Microsoft will ensure any apps included on individual conutries' Windows Marketplace conform to standards set out by Microsoft, including ensuring keywords in the apps are relevant to [...]

The Windows Phone marketplace continues to expand - it recently passed the 70,000 app mark, with 300 new apps being launched every day. Microsoft's CEO for Greater China, Simon Leung, revealed that the company plans to launch a total of 63 markets, which will please the 100,000 Windows Phone developers currently registered with Microsoft. In a move to further encourage developers to write for the platform, Microsoft has cut the certification process to just three days. The widespread success of the Nokia Lumia 800 around the globe and the rush of manufactureres now embracing the Windows Phone ecosystem should ensure even faster growth in the Windows Phone Marketplace in time for the launch [...]

Audible has released a sophisticated audio-book app for the Windows Phone 7 platform. The app runs briskly and intuitively, letting users buy their favorite audio books on the move. Amongst the highlights of the the Audible app are a primary Live Tile that flips over to display recent history and secondary Live Tiles based on the book's title - this tile enables one-touch audio playback of the book, and on the flip-side of this tile is the user's bookmark history. Another great feature is the configurable "jump back" option, which lets you re-listen to the last section (the default is 30 seconds). Button-less playback makes use of gestures instead of buttons to let users control [...]

Three months ago Windows Phone Marketplace had just over 11k apps. That took over 5 months to accumulate. Windows Phone Marketplace has reached 25k apps and rate at which it grows is steadily increasing. Mango it's on its way and that solidifies the prognosis of app growth sharply increasing. Windows Phone MIX has compiled a series of 20 best windows phone apps. Internet based Windows Phone Marketplace is to be online soon. engadget [...]

Windows Phone has over 25,000 apps already and the rate of growth is slowly increasing. With Nokia signing on Windows Phone 7 platform is picking up steam in both popularity and functionality. Engadget, for those who don't already know, is a high profile tech blog taking in the hottest news from the world of technical advancement. Engadget has its own Windows Phone 7 app with which you can get the mobile news as well as HD , as well as podcasts and videos. [...]